The Skippers are the least developed of the butterflies. They show their close relationship to the moths both by their structure and their habits. The larvae make slight cocoons before changing to chrysalids, and these chrysalids are so rounded that they suggest the pupae of moths rather than those of butterflies. The common name--Skippers--is due to the habit of the butterflies--a jerky, skipping flight as they wing their erratic way from flower to flower. In North America the Skipper family includes nearly two hundred species grouped in about forty genera. From this point of view it is the largest family of our butterflies, but on account of the small size and limited range of most of the species it has by no means the general importance of such families as the Nymphs, the Swallowtails, or the Pierids. The Skippers are remarkable for the uniformity of structure in each stage of existence. The butterflies have small wings and large bodies. The broad head bears large eyes without hairs, but with a tuft of curving bristles overhanging each. The antennae are hooked at the end and widely separated at the base. Each short palpus has a large middle joint and a small joint at the tip. The fore wings project out at the front angle and the hind wings are folded along the inner margin. There are six well-developed legs in both sexes. The colors are chiefly various tones of brown, dull rather than bright, and many of the forms resemble one another so closely that it is difficult to separate them. The Skipper caterpillars have stout bodies and are easily known by the constricted neck. Most of these have the habit of making nests from the leaves of the food plants, weaving them together with silken threads. In a similar way each also makes a slight cocoon when it is ready to change to a chrysalis. The Skippers found in eastern North America are commonly grouped into two types--the Larger Skippers and the Smaller Skippers. The characteristics are given in the paragraph immediately following and the one on page 278. THE TRIBE OF THE LARGER SKIPPERS The butterflies of this tribe have that part of the club of the antenna, which is recurved, about as long as the thicker part below it. As a rule, the abdomen is distinctly shorter than the hind wings. The caterpillars are rather short and thick, and the upper part of the head, when looked at from in front, is square or roundish rather than tapering. The chrysalids have the tongue case attached throughout its length and stopping short of the tips of the wing cases. =The Silver-spotted Skipper= _Epargyreus tityrus_